Summary
In this study, we identified the Matuyama-Brunhes magnetic reversal recorded in cave sediments in Central Europe, Czech Republic. We collected discrete samples from the homogeneous sedimentary profile in the Za Hajovnou cave located in the eastern part of the Czech Republic. Novel use of characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) directions and VGP (Virtual Geomagnetic Pole) path of the data revealed the Matuyama-Brunhes transition boundary within 5.7 cm of the Za Hajovnou cave sediment. This result revealed a new more detailed behavior of the polarity transition from the central European location. The migration of the paleopole between east of Africa and west of North America is a significant marker for the central European paleomagnetic record in terms of global magnetic data. The precursor of the reversal occurs 4.6 kyr before the transition. As a result of the rock magnetism measurements, the magnetic carrier of the samples is maghemite. Also, we estimated the sedimentation rate of the cave for the first time.
Keywords: Paleomagnetism; Matuyama-Brunhes, magnetic reversal; cave; sediments